DreamCollege.ai
Democratizing College Admissions

When Julia Liang’s daughter began her college application journey, even her near-perfect SAT scores and flawless academic record didn’t spare the family from stress and uncertainty. Liang, a Cornell MBA, and seasoned tech executive with experience at Goldman Sachs and PNC, found herself falling down the same rabbit holes of researching rankings, comparing acceptance rates and second-guessing every decision like so many other parents. Eventually, she hired a private admissions counselor to help guide them through the process. It helps, but at the cost of $10,000.

While grateful for the guidance, Liang walked away with one pressing question — what happens to the student who works just as hard, has just as much potential, but doesn’t have that extra $10,000?

That question sparked a curiosity that stayed with her long after her daughter was accepted to Cornell, eventually becoming the inspiration for DreamCollege.ai. In 2023, she began experimenting with large language models like GPT. By mid-2024, she partnered with co-founder James Wang, a specialist in SaaS and BaaS platforms. Together, they launched DreamCollege.ai at the ASU+GSV Summit in April 2025.

“DreamCollege.ai is my answer to the inequality in college admission. We built a platform that provides personalized, expert-level guidance at a fraction of the cost—so every student has a fair shot.” says Liang.

The result is a platform that uses Agentic AI capable of mirroring the work of human counselors to help students find their best-fit majors and colleges, identify gaps in their profiles and provide actionable advice to improve their chances of admission.

Behind the scenes, DreamCollege.ai is driven by a network of specialized AI agents. There is a major agent to recommend fields of study based on a student’s interests and strengths and a college agent that evaluates school fit using real admissions data. Other agents help optimize extracurricular activities, scholarships, and more. Each agent is designed to do one job and do it exceptionally well, responding instantly to profile changes and new data.

The approach has already struck a chord with students and parents. Liang recalls a recent conversation with a father of three, who had built an elaborate spreadsheet to compare colleges. After inputting the data into DreamCollege.ai, he watched as the system quickly evaluated each boy’s profile, highlighted strengths, flagged weaknesses and generated tailored recommendations. The father saw in real time how improving an SAT score could change the list of suggested colleges. More importantly, he found a tool that could help him motivate his sons and give them a clear path forward.

DreamCollege.ai’s value is not limited to individual users. Counseling agencies, Liang says, are starting to try out the platform to enhance their own services. The AI becomes a partner to human counselors, handling research, offering insights and freeing counselors to focus on mentorship and support. That kind of scale can help bring quality guidance to far more students than the system currently allows.

Even after achieving such excellence, Liang and DreamCollege.ai is showing no signs of slowing down. Today, the company focuses on expanding services across individual and institutional channels. It's a mission that's both deeply personal and broadly relevant. What began as a stressful season in one family's life is now a movement to reshape the way college guidance works in the U.S. With the help of smart technology and a human-centered approach, Liang is leveling the playing field for millions of students and leading them to a brighter future.

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